408:1b These four lines have occurred before. Book III. Canto Lvi.
408:2b Prajpatis are the ten lords of created beings first created by Brahm; somewhat like the Demiurgi of the Gnostics.
408:3b "This is the number of the Vedic divinities mentioned in the Rig-veda. In p. 409 Ashtaka I. Skta XXXIV. the Rishi Hiranyastpa invoking the As'vins says: Nsaty tribhirekdasair iha devebnirytam: "O Nsatyas (As'vins) come hither with the thrice eleven Gods," And in Skta XLV. the Rishi Praskanva addressing his hymn to Agni (ignis, fire), thus invokes him: "Lord of the red steeds, propitiated by our prayers lead hither the thirty-three Gods." This number must certainly have been the actual number in the early days of the Vedic religion: although it appears probable enough that the thirty-three Vedic divinities could not then be found co-ordinated in so systematic a way as they were arranged more recently by the authors of the Upanishads. In the later ages of Bramanism the number went on increasing without measure by successive mythical and religious creations which peopled the Indian Olympus with abstract beings of every kind. But through lasting veneration of the word of tha Veda the custom regained of giving the name of "the thirty-three Gods" to the immense phalanx of the multiplied deities." Gorresio.
409:1 Serpent-Gods who dwell in the regions under the earth.
409:2 In the mythology of the epics the Gandharvas are the heavenly singers or musicians who form the orchestra at the banquets of the Gods, and they belong to the heaven of India in whose battles they share.